A Christmas Special
by LagomorphKing
Summary: Christmas is the time of year for all to rejoice in happiness, forget about your problems, and love one another like human and Pokemon should, right? Buneary never knew this to be true. Being abused and abandoned, broken and bleeding does not seem cheerful, does it? This is the story of a Buneary and her group of rag-tag friends. Eventual Lagomorphshipping fluff.
1. Chapter 1

A Christmas Special

* * *

The pounding in her wrist was still beating strong, not showing any hint of slowing or stopping, and the physical pain was still insurmountable to anything she had felt before. The rag that she held tight to her appendage was long ago drenched in the crimson liquid as the massive incision still bled out of control. Although the physical pain of the ordeal might have left scars and misinform other Pokèmon about her past, the greatest toll taken was to her emotional psyche, leaving scars that would never heal on her subconscious. Even as she trudged through the knee deep snow that barricaded the sidewalks of downtown Hearthome, no human seemed to notice or care about the fact that there was a random, out of place Pokèmon straggling on the streets, a blood soaked cloth hanging loosely from her wrist. It was if she was invisible to the outer world, only existing for Arceus knows what reason. Only to annoy and pester, only existing as a burden on others, is the biggest and most plausible hypothesis she believed. Snow fell gently on that cool Sunday night, covering the normally frantic atmosphere of the city streets with a calm, cool and collected blanket of white powder. Many houses down in residential areas were draped with the fashion of fairy lights and Christmas decorations, hanging loosely in the cool winter air in a declaration of festivity's cheer.

Once again, the stabbing pain in her left arm triggered a memory that made her cringe in sadness when she repeated it in his tongue, his voice laced with poison and his words digging a dagger through her flesh, straight to her heart. In that instance, the mention of those short five words were enough to break her heart in two. The hate etched into every syllable of that simple sentence had the power to render her completely useless...and she was a downright fool to ever think he really did love her.

The only thing she could think of was how much he really did hate her now...they were once the best of friends, inseparable and constantly bringing joy to eachother, or so it seemed. She now could see the real, true demon behind the mask of skin he wore. Calling himself "human" was the least deserving title he had as a person. That...that thing...did not deserve love. He only broke the hearts of others around him and left them to freeze to death in the cold. Once he was disposed of you, you were done for. Like a broken toy tossed in the trash after years of sentimental playtime's together, seemingly endless at the time, but eventually becoming a waste of space and depicted as rubbish.

Buneary collapsed to her knees as the cold started seeping into her skin, her insulating fluff working powerlessly against the cold winter air. She fell to her right side, keeping a sustainable amount of pressure on her wrist. She felt snowflakes dance their way onto her body, melting at the immediate contact of her skin. The cool winter breeze rolled through the gentle streets of the sleeping city, sending shivers of despair and loneliness down her spine, shaking her helpless body to the bone. As time went past, Buneary's body slowly became submersed in snow, her blood starting to leak a small amount down onto the snow beneath her body. The pressure holding the rag slowly started to fade as the life force slowly drained from her body and into the earth beneath her. The more time she spent in her own thoughts and under the pile of snow, the more her mind gave up the will to fight. She was nothing anymore...not without him.

Her right paw dropped in a gesture of mere surrender, and she watched as the clotted blood once held together by the pressure of the rag spilled out onto the snow in a stringy, gunky, gruesome chunk. After the clotted artery was relieved, it started spilling blood all over again, painting the purest crimson paint on mother earth's natural, white canvass. It didn't take long at all for her to start feeling the effects of major blood loss, feeling the warmth pool around her in a blanket of her own body fluid. Her head span, and in a matter of seconds, she found the strength to stay alive quickly fade. She smiled a very weak smile, before slipping into the oblivion. Her body went limp and cold, symbolizing that her existence was coming to a halt, her afterlife to be judged by that of a higher power. At least death was better than having to live on this dreaded earth again, knowing that wherever Samuel was, he hated her.

She closed her eyes, letting cold hands from the underworld grip her and pull her down into oblivion. But, just as quickly as cold hands gripped her, cold hands faded, and her body was returned to warm and gleeful hands who caressed and cradled her lovingly. As she experienced this, she drew her final breath, just before everything went completely dark.

* * *

There was an obscene amount of darkness in the strange plain she had been whisked away to. If eternity was a living entity, it would be flabbergasted at how much darkness spread over the land she had now found herself in. It was as though the darkness more consumed everything as opposed to just it being around her. As the flames of trauma still flickered in her heart and the paranoia of what was to be expected of in Purgatory still was a constant, drowning fear, she still pressed onwards, into the dark abyss to be lost to an amount of time that seemed like forever.

It could have been days, weeks, months...years, decades, who could really tell at this point? It was all the same, constant, forever endless darkness, stretching on for miles in every direction. And, the strange thing was she never felt bored. Never, not once, did she quit out of lack of interest. It was like her soul kept trying to find serenity, subconsciously keeping her attention span at bay.

At last, what she guessed was her astral projection into Purgatory started to feel like it was being pulled down more and more. Finally, she got to a point where she felt so dizzy she had to shut her eyelids and regain her bearings. Eventually, her 'body' stopped falling, and now, she was staring into the large, intimidating eyes of Girantina himself.

She tried to speak, tried to ask what was going on, why she was there, where she was, and all sorts of other questions that would fit to the topic at hand. Unfortunately, she soon figured out that her brain was not communicating with her muscles, not forcing them to move. Her face was not conveying emotion, her voice would not utter even the smallest squeak. Hell, she was sure that she wasn't even breathing. Girantina must have noticed her distress, because not long after, she heard a booming voice sound inside of her head, bounding off the walls of her subconscious...if a subconscious had a subconscious.

"Oh young one, you have fallen so young. It brings me no pleasure to great such a small, terrified young Pokèmon into the Distortion World."  
She froze...metaphorically. The Distortion World? She wasn't...she wasn't dead! What is this? Was he lying? The Distortion World is where you go when you've died! Girantina is the ruler of the underworld! This must've been some sort of misunderstanding. Again, just like before, Girantina seemed to sense what she was thinking, and so he replied once more.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. You've died recently, and by what I sense in your heart, it was a death full of misery and loneliness. Oh, young one...I would switch places with you in a heartbeat if the rules allowed it."

At the mention of misery, Buneary's heart suddenly turned into a whirling vortex of sadness and despair, as she clung to the last memories of her life. {Oh Samuel, where did I go wrong?} She thought, replaying the moment over and over again in her head, falling deep into her dark state of depression. Another booming announcement however shattered her depressed state, forcing her attention back to the super deity that floated carelessly in front of her.

"I don't want to believe your life is over."

If Buneary could tilt her head upwards in confusion, she would have. He spoke again.

"You can't just stop living here. I forbid it. Your life has not nearly lived to it's full potential quite yet." Girantina started flying around her, doing the occasional twist in the air. "That...that is why I've decided to give you a second chance. See, right now, somebody is trying to their fullest potential to bring you back to life, and I'm going to let that happen. Don't question it, because I swear it, he will change your life forever."

Suddenly, before she could react, Buneary felt as though she was being sucked though a tiny worm hole, stretching her body in fantastic ways she never thought possible. Once the nightmare ride of death faded, she found herself barely conscious, lying on a cold metal grate, feeling a pounding on her chest. She mostly ignored it out of sheer grogginess, but immediately shot up and opened her eyes when she felt cold lips press against her own, trying to force air into her respiratory system. On her flight up, she bonked her head on something, making a loud clunking noise as two skulls were forcefully knocked together. She felt a groan of pain rise from her throat and project out of her mouth, before she could stop it. Slowly, she cracked her eyes open, and found herself in a dark, sewer like area. The walls were tube shaped and as hard as a Steelix's "skin". Water slowly dripped from faulty pipes situated above her head and dampened the floor with every drip and drop. Turning her head, she only found more of the tubular barrication, before her eyes landed on something intruiging.

Sat right in front of her, rubbing his head, was a Pikachu wearing a red scarf around his neck, tiny red mittens on his front paws, and what looked like socks on his ears. She guessed it was to keep them warm. He rubbed his bruised head a couple more times before he looked up at her, first with an expression of annoyance, but it quickly faded and turned into an expression of disbelief. His eyes went as wide as they could, as his paws slowly found their way to the ground. After they stared at each other for a few seconds, Buneary started to feel weak and nauseated, and so she let her body flop down onto her back as she drooped under the iron fist of fatigue. Almost immediately, he was by her side, wearing a worried expression.

"Hey, hey! Are you alright? Stay with me girl, stay here with me!" He yelled, as he snapped his fingers into her face. His voice was not at all what she expected. She expected him having a sort of childish voice, but instead, it was a deep Brooklyn type accent, one you'd hear calling in the middle of New York for a taxi cab. Next, jokingly, he put on a posh British man's accent as he said, "My name's doctor Heisenburg and I'll be your surgeon for today." He said as he laughed and grabbed a needle. He forced a string into the loop in the bottom and tied it. He brought it down to Buneary's wrist, and she shot back up against the wall, now realizing what he was trying to do. He looked shocked, raising his paws slowly and dropping the needle on a concrete slab beside him. He brought his paws up some more and pushed them up and down in the air, making a shushing sound.

"Hey, lady, it's alright...I would never hurt you on purpose. It's alright if you don't want to talk to me, converse with me, or let me touch you. I'd never do so without your consent. But, I suggest taking a gander at your arm there before you make that decision."

Buneary looked down a her arm to see a mangled, half-stiched, 2 inch deep gash that started from the base of her wrist and went up towards her elbow. As soon as she saw it, her face turned devoid of all emotion as she turned to the other side and threw up what little food she still held in her stomach. In a Flash, he was there by her side again, rubbing her back and patting it, shushing her and telling her it was alright and to get everything out. After she was done, he left for a moment, only to return with a clean washcloth to wash her face. As he did so for her, she tried to mumble something.

"I-I'm s-s-sor-..."

"Shhh, no darlin'. It's okay, I can clean it up later. Don't 'chu worry 'bout it, everythin's pitch perfect." He said as he continued to comfort her by rubbing her back and her mouth, being completely generous and as gentle as could be. She looked up at him with admiration, still shaking from the shock of the earlier ordeal. As he stopped wiping her mouth, he crouched down to eye level and put his paw on her shoulder. He looked at her, his eyes filled of hospitality and care.

"Are okay, miss? D'you need t' lie down? I can help you t' my bed, if you'd like. It's quite late, and even though you just woke up, you might want to get some rest. Although, first, I'd have to complete the stitching in your arm if you don't want to catch some sort o' infection."

She stared at him in awe, her gratitude for him skyrocketing through the roof. She nodded her head, and he replied by smiling the most adorable, most fantastically cute smile she had ever seen. She smiled herself, not being able to contain her excitement.

"Glad to see you're feelin' better. Can you stand, or do you need me to carry you?" He said as he took her paw in his, gazing into her eyes caringly.

"Uh...well, lemmie see..." she said as she grabbed his arm for support, both rising off of the ground at the same time. Pikachu then, being the gentleman he is, put her good arm around his neck, making a lean-to from his body. "...Thank you."

"Ah, don't mention it. Y'know, you had me scared shitless earlier. I was stitchin' you up when, all of a sudden, the blood flow from your arm stopped." He explained as they walked down a sewer path, her arm around his neck and his around her waist. "I felt your neck and found out your heart quit. That's...uhm, that's probably why you felt so shocked earlier...I'm really sorry about that. I panicked." He sighed. "I wasn't about to lose another one..."

She stared at him quizzically. "What do you mean, 'another one'?"

"Oh, uhm...never mind, it's not important." He said bluntly, stating he didn't want to talk about it any further. She respected his wishes, and did her best not to pry any more. They walked in silence for the next little while, exploring the depths of the sewer and listening to the steady beat of water droplets plunging into the sewage waste stream. Soon, they turned a corner into a room, which had some boiling gaskets, pipes, wires, connecters, PSI guages, tanks, valves, you name it inside.

"This...this is where you sleep?" Buneary inquired. Pikachu laughed.

"No, no, no, no, no, I sleep in here." He said as he motioned towards a boiling tank, which had hot steam coming off of it when the passed it. Once they were around, Buneary saw a hole in the wall large enough for Pikachu to fit in. It was funny, though, since Buneary was a tad taller than him, she had to crouch to get in. Once inside, presented to them was a mattress, a pit in the ground, and some berries stacked neatly in a corner.

"Yep, this is where I sleep. But...that's all I really use it for, I guess. It's right next to the opening where the warehouse is." Pikachu said as he helped Buneary onto the mattress. He walked to the other end of the room and grabbed a throw pillow, and set it down under her head. He took off his mittens and scarf, throwing them aimlessly into another corner, and thought for a moment. Buneary refocused her attention to Pikachu, as she zoned out a little when she had got into the room.

"Now, what was I supposed to do when I got he-" he stopped and it popped into his head. "Oh, yea. I gotta finish stitching your arm."

Buneary cringed at the thought, but nodded in agreement. Pikachu gave a nod of approval and walked over to the mattress, pulling out of a hole a blanket and a first aid kit. He threw the blanket over Buneary and carefully pulled her right arm out, setting it on top of the blanket. It had been slowly dripping blood, since the stitching had only been half done, and there was coagulated blood stuck to her fur around the area of the wound. Out of the first aid kit, Pikachu pulled out several small pads, a needle & surgical string, strange ointment in a tube and a liquid needle. He held it up, showing her the needle before speaking.

"Now, ma'am, I-"

"Just call me Buneary. It'll make things a lot less awkward." She interrupted, afterwards showing a content smile. Pikachu chuckled and said, "Will do. Now, Buneary, I can use this with a special liquid that'll knock you out cold. It'll only take a couple of seconds, but it might be a little painful. Alternative, we can do it while you're conscious. Of course, it doesn't matter all too much, but with you knocked out, it will probably make things a lot more comfortable." He finished, explaining her options. She stared at him for a few seconds, before she replied,

"...Nah, I don't need some dumb anesthesia. I can take it. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?" She answered. Pikachu stared at her, wide eyed, before breaking into a smile and saying, "I'm liking your strong will! Let's do this then!" He took sanitizer and rubbed it between his paws, making them sterile. He made his beginning preparations, wiping down the area, fitting the string into the loop on the end of the needle pointed thread, and fixating it on the entry point of a flap of skin on one side of her wound.

"You ready?" Pikachu asked.

"Go for it." Buneary replied.

In a flash, the needle went through her skin, coming out of the other side and crossing over the last string. She let out a groan of pain, as her skin was repeatedly stabbed, cross-crossing sections of string and pulling the skin tight. A little ways into it, Pikachu struck up a conversation.

"So...I'm kinda impressed you knew what anesthesia was. How did you know that?" He inquired. It took a little while for her to respond, but she said, "my old owner and I used to work in a Pokèmon Center. Of course, I only cleaned and assisted, but I know enough to know what anesthesia is and what it does." Buneary finished. She had her eyes clenched tightly closed, so she didn't understand why Pikachu stopped out of the blue. She opened her eyes to see Pikachu stairing at her with wide eyes in disbelief.

"...You're kidding." He said bluntly.

"Uhm...no, I worked in a Pokèmon Center. I cleaned and assisted some Pokèmon. I even helped save a life once." She said as she smiled. She watched as the look of disbelief on Pikachu's face turned into a look of amazement and wonder.

"Wow! You're not kidding!? It's been my lifelong dream to work in a Pokèmon Center! Oh, that's just not fair! Ever since I was young, I knew I wanted to be a Pokèmon doctor. And not just some lame assistant. No offense, Buneary."

Buneary giggled, but soon winced in pain from the unnecessary movement. "Ow...and, uhm...I uh, think you'd be...you know, like, really good at it. Being a Pokèmon doctor." She said as she closed her eyes. She realized Pikachu was being unusually quiet, though, and cracked an eye open to look at him. He was smiling, but he was smiling a depression filled smile.

"Thanks, Buneary. Although..." he said with a sigh, and frowning, "I'm no Chansey. I'm pretty sure they'd refuse me if I tried to apply for the job."

Buneary looked puzzled. "What, because you're a Pikachu? Well, that's kinda silly, don't you think?" She heard the snap of the string as Pikachu had tied off the end and cut the excess string off. He nodded his head, acknowledging her complaint but was too focused on his task to give a verbal reply. He frowned in concentration, then stood up.

"Now, we gotta use something to cover that up so it doesn't get irritated, infected or ruined. I think I have some tensor bandages around here somewhere...oh, alright. Here they are." He spoke in a busy whisper, pulling himself back into a sitting position and continuing with his work, wrapping the bandage around her arm as he'd promised.

"All done. How d'ya feel?" He asked whole-heartedly, smiling.

"I feel a million times better, although I feel as tired as a Snorelax during winter." She said with an exasperated smile. Pikachu chuckled.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. I'm going t' go to sleep as well, it's pretty late and..." he then took a very long, loud yawn. "Ooof...I'm quite beat." Buneary smiled, and yawned herself. When she recovered, she watched as he pulled an extra pillow from seemingly out of nowhere, before laying on the floor with his head on the pillow a fair distance away from her. She frowned in confusion, before it snapped in her head.

"Wait a minute...this isn't YOUR bed I'm in, is it?" He turned around, plastering a confused look on his face. He realized what she was talking about, after a moment's notice though, and smiled.

"Yea, I told you that earlier. But, I don't mind in the least, I'm fine with sleeping on the floor. Don't let it worry ya, darlin'."

"Well, that doesn't seem quite fair." Buneary exclaimed. "Why don't you just lay on the other side of the bed? I don't want to have to make you sleep on the floor." She said with a frown.

"Yea, but I don't really want to invade on your privacy. It's absolutely fine, trust me. "

"I don't mean to be rude, mister, you've done a lot for me and I really appreciate it. But if you don't get your ass into this bed right now, I'm gonna come over there and drag you into it by force."

Pikachu looked stunned to say the least. He lost his balance a little, trying to decipher the reasoning behind her sudden change in attitude. "Uhm...w-well, okay, I-I guess so..."

"I mean, I know it'll be uncomfortable and everything, but I would feel tremendously guilty if I had just let it slip by." She said as she watched him walk to the other side of the bed, dragging his pillow behind him. He sat on the bed, fixed the pillow and kept listening.

"I don't want you to think I'm mean, but the guilt would have torn me apart, watching you have to sleep on the dirty floor. I hope you understand." She said sincerely, putting her good hand under her head. He laid down, copying her actions with the oposite hand and looking at her as she looked at him.  
"I don't mind. I think it's really nice of you, even though I still feel a bit awkward, invading your personal space this much" This is when she noticed that he was practically hanging off of the edge of the bed he was so far away from her. She rolled her eyes and scoffed, before reaching out and pulling his body more onto the bed, as well as the pillow. When she looked at his face, the shock and the blush was so visible you could see it from Mars. She laughed, and returned her hands under her pillow, closed her eyes and smiled.

"Night, Pikachu."

"Yea...night."

As she fell further and further into "l'appel du vide", she left an utterly shell-shocked Pikachu to ponder life itself into the night.

* * *

Buneary woke up peacefully the next morning, warm and soft and comfortably. With her eyes still clenched shut, she stretched before sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her tired pupils. The room, although underground and behind another large room, was noticeably brighter than the previous night. She looked to her left to find Pikachu sleeping soundly, his chest slowly rising and falling. She sat back onto the mattress again, with nothing to do but twiddle her thumbs and think about random things before Pikachu woke up. How he managed to sleep longer than her, she hadn't the foggiest.

She waited, and waited, and waited some more, before all of a sudden, Pikachu shot up on the bed, eyes wide. He looked around the room, before yelling,

"Shit!"

He hopped out of bed, grabbed his scarf, mittens and ear socks, and turned to leave.

"Pikachu! Where are you going?"

He stopped, dead in his tracks, and turned to face her. He sweat dropped.

"Oh...yea. I forgot you were here."

"Oh...so, where are you headed?"

Pikachu reluctantly hid a smile. "Well...I'm going to the warehouse. Wanna come? I've got some people I think you should meet. I mean...if you're okay with that, I guess."

"Friends of yours?" Answered Buneary.

Pikachu smirked. "You could say that. Now, let's go, we're already late!"

"Alright, alright! Wait a sec!" She said in a condescending tone. Pikachu disregarded the thought though, and started jogging on the spot. All of a sudden, Buneary spoke up.

"Do you have a mirror or something? I need to do my hair."

* * *

Chapter One is out, yay! Now I can go back to working on other stu-

Oh, wait. Gotta get this all out before Christmas is over.

Shit.

I know I'm not big in the Lagomorphshipping community, but I just couldn't resist xD

So, this is what I'll be working on for the next couple of days. Couple meaning the rest of December.

Hope you guys liked it :D Reviews always help :3

~LagomorphKing


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys :D Finally, Jesus, a new chapter. God, it's like I've been dead or something.

Anyways, This one's a long one. Probably the longest thing I've written so far. It's about 7,650 words.

Enjoy :D

* * *

Pikachu and Buneary continued their escapade together down the long tunnels of the sewer towards Pikachu's secretive destination. They had traversed most of the tunels already, mostly keeping quiet but sometimes talking about their pasts and other little things they'd find interesting enough to share. Buneary realized immediately that Pikachu was very open to her. He had no problem telling her embarrassing things and such, or things Buneary herself had thought to be too personal to share. Now, it was no, "This is how my first time went" kind of conversation, but they were personal enough. He told her about his life before Hearthome, things like his family and their escapades in Eterna forest. Had left them after he had decided that he wanted a life of his own that was filled with excitement, rather than just being a forest Pokèmon. What he said next though, surprised her the most.

"Yep. And, so, I came to the decision that I wanted to live in Hearthome with all of my friends, while we all support each other. But...I miss them. I don't ever talk to them, and they've never tried to establish a connection with me since." He took a deep breath, and stuck his paws under his arms. He smiled and said, "You know, my Mom always was ecstatic to see what my children would look like. If she knew I had a daughter, she'd flip right out."

Buneary's eyes widened. Did this mean that Pikachu had since already settled down? Not that she'd mind, but...she was kinda hoping she could get a little closer to him. She realized, since he had found her, she'd started to become a little attracted to him. It was just the smallest of crushes, more so pure admiration for what he'd done for her. But...with him having a mate already, she might be left in the cold again. She was meeting a group of people who were total strangers, most of whom were probably male and not interested in befriending a girl. But, she supposed this wasn't the first time she'd been given the cold shoulder.

"Buneary?" She heard Pikachu's voice say out of nowhere. She snapped back to reality and put on a smile.

"Yea Pikachu?" She replied.

"Are you alright?" He inquired with a worried glance. "You've been unnaturally quiet this whole time. Is something wrong?" Buneary looked down and nodded.

"Do you want me to tell you the truth?"

"That depends," Pikachu replied, "on weather or not you're comfortable with sharing it with me. I'm not gonna force you to tell me anything if you don't want to."

"You're so modest..." Buneary fawned.

"Me? Nah. I'm just polite and aware of personal feelings and memories."

"Well...anyways, uhm...ever since I was little, I had belonged to a trainer. His name was Samuel and I loved him, as a best friend and respected him as a master. One day...I guess he just got fed up with me losing to the Hearthome gym, so he beat me and abandoned me." The disgust on Pikachu's face was all too evident. "...Not before replacing me, though, with a Trapinch. I ended up in a recycling bin full of glass, and that's how I cut my wrist. And so, I was a little depressed to hear that you had a child...not that I hate children or something, I'm sure she's a nice kid, but I kind of put it together that you probably would have settled down with a mate that you spend all of your time with, and I wouldn't really get to have a friend that I could hang out with, just the two of us..." Buneary sighed. "I know, it's kind of really awkward to admit, but I was scared your group of friends would be all male and show no interest in being my friend, best friend, ect. I thought you'd be spending a lot of time with your mate, which I totally understand, but, if it turns out that I'll be staying with you guys for a while, I'm not really going to have anyone to talk to. I mean, I would understand if things turned out that way...I'm probably a 1% on the importance meter compared to your mate and your other friends. And your mate's probably really pretty, prettier than me, because I'm a walking corpse when it comes to beauty. And then, there'd be more reason for you just to spend time with her...I don't want to intrude on anybody, so it's no big deal..." Buneary sighed extremely loudly and put on a frown before continuing. "I was just scared of being left alone again. By myself...and then still, I feel guilty for trying to make this all about me, because then I'll have a million people who'll try to make me feel better and then I feel guilty for getting attention I don't deserve...I mean, what do my emotions matter?" she looked down and didn't look back up in fear of judging eyes to befall her. "Anyways...sorry for venting on you. That's just been what's in my head for the past couple of days." All of a sudden, they stopped, and she felt him grab her paw with his. She turned around and faced him, not at all seeing the face that she expected. Instead, he was smiling. Very widely. He grabbed her other paw as well, and held them in his. The blush rushing to Buneary's face was completely visible, yet ignored.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't have a mate. My child..." he frowned and took a breath. "...isn't my, per say, biological child. I promised to look after her for a friend I had who couldn't take care of her by herself. She was...dying of terminal lung cancer, I was told by the Nurse Joy of Hearthome. So far...I think the cancer isn't hereditary. I hope not, anyways. And, so, if you want, we can still do some of that best friend stuff you wanna do. Even if I had a mate, I would still consider you a great friend and hang with you as much as I could. I promise you, Buneary, as long as you're with us, you'll never be given the cold shoulder ever again. I promise you that. In the 48 hours that I've come to know you, I've seen nothing but a fun loving, interesting, amazing person inside of you, and I already consider you to be a great friend of mine. And don't say something like that again, putting yourself down like that so many times. You're none of those things...and what you feel does matter. You deserve all of the attention you get. And, you're by no standard, "ugly". I mean, look at you, darling!" Buneary smiled widely, and giggled, turning red. Pikachu smiled. "And, although I've only known you for two days, I know we're gonna be the best of friends. You could call me Dr. FeelGood...because I'm gonna make you feel alright."

Buneary felt all warm inside, and she laughed at the expense of Pikachu's horribly funny joke. Not even the frozen Tundra of Snowpoint could make her feel cold right now, and her emotions scale started flying around off the charts. Her tears started pouring down her cheeks and she bellowed in laughter, a joy filled cackle emanating and echoing through the sewers. She felt one of his paws leave her grasp and migrate to her face where he wiped her tears away. With a shaky voice, she replied, "Do you...r-really m-m-mean that?" Pikachu smiled once more, before saying,

"Forever and always. Now give me a hug, bestie."

"T-thank you so m-much, Pika...chu..." Buneary whispered, moving in to his arms to cry on his chest. She wrapped her arms around his body, and Pikachu wrapped his around her neck. It was a little bit awkward, considering Buneary was a tad taller than Pikachu was, but neither seemed to care.

"Don't mention it." He then broke away from the hug, still holding her shoulders. All of a sudden, a playful smirk appeared on his face. Buneary didn't notice, until he swiftly picked her up from the back of her knees, and started running away with her in the bridal position. Buneary was surprised at first, but started laughing and getting into it. They ran around for a while, fooling around, tacking each other, doing anything they could just to tick the other off. Before they had known it, they were another half an hour late, and they ran together to the end of the hallway, turning a corner and coming to a ladder that lead outside.

"The warehouse is just across the street from this manhole. We'll have to run across to get there, but that shouldn't be too difficult. You ready?" Pikachu said as he briefed Buneary on their plan. She smiled and nodded, and with a simple gentleman like gesture from Pikachu, Buneary climbed the ladder up first. Pikachu was following close behind, ready to instruct her on what to do. Soon enough, they were at the top.

"Pop open the manhole," Buneary heard from below. "You'll see the warehouse almost instantaneously." She did as she was told, opening the grate and sliding it over to allow for access into the outside. It was a little bit difficult to move, and once she did manage to move it, about 5 pounds of snow fell on her face. She shook it off, as Pikachu laughed, and climbed up and out of the hole. She helped Pikachu up, and after, gazed around the street. She heard Pikachu mutter, "Thanks," and acknowledged it with a nod.

"So, is that the place?" Buneary said, lifting a finger and pointing at the dark grey, run down apartment-like complex that towered over them on the other side of the street.

"Yep. That's it. C'mon, they're probably already mad at us for being so late." Buneary nodded once more and dashed across the street with Pikachu. They eventually arrived at the door, which Pikachu skillfully used iron tail to open, before running inside with a big grin on his face.

"Hey! Charmander, Eevee, Pichu, are you guys here?" The room was dead silent, and Pikachu stopped in his tracks. Buneary followed up behind, her paws held close to her own body in fright.

"Pikachu...I don't like this...it's dark, and there's no one he-"

"BOOOO!"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Buneary flew to Pikachu like a lightning bolt, cowering behind him in fear. She clung to his chest, not daring to open her tightly clenched eyes or to move away from Pikachu. All of a sudden, Pikachu laughed.

"Alright, Pichu, come on out. The jig is up, kid. Come and say hello to daddy!" Pikachu yelled, as a yellow blur of a thing raced towards them at the speed of light, behind a box near where Buneary was just standing. Pikachu let go of Buneary and caught Pichu in the air, hugging her for the first time in two days.

"Daddy!" Pichu yelled, giggling like a madman.

"Oh, I missed you, Pumpkin. How are you? I hope old Eevee wasn't too hard on you." She then crawled up Pikachu's body and sat on his head.

"No, she wasn't. She also didn't drop the cooking oil, either." They both laughed at that moment, obviously an inside joke being the cause of humor. Pikachu turned to Buneary, and introduced the two.

"Buneary, this is my daughter, Pichu. Pichu, this is my friend, Buneary."

"How do you do, Miss?" Pichu chimed. Buneary smiled.

"I'm fine, thank you. It's nice to finally meet you, Pichu." Buneary said with a smile. Then, without warning, Pichu jumped off of Pikachu's head and onto Buneary's. She grabbed one of her ears, hugged it, and said, "Wow...I was right, your fluffy fluff is soft! I could just sleep on this thing!" Buneary laughed, then fawned as Pichu hugged her ear closer. Her adorableness level had reached WAY over 9000.

Pikachu awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Yea...that's Pichu." Buneary and Pikchu laughed loudly together, before Pichu shushed then with her paw finger. "Hey! Colonel's still sleeping! Keep it down! Eevee told me today that he needs a lot of rest, right?"

Pikachu nodded, with a sort of grim look. "Yes...he needs all the rest he can get." He paused and took Pichu off of Buneary's head and set her on the ground. "How about we go pay him a visit?" Pikchu said to the duo. Pichu audibly agreed while Buneary nodded her head. Pikachu nodded in return, before saying, "Alright then. Let's go and pay Colonel a visit."

They all walked alongside each other outside and around the building, to the back where a fire escape was visible. Pikachu pulled the stairs down and let Pichu on first, and soon after Buneary, followed by himself. They reached a door at the top which had a hole in the bottom of it, allowing them to crawl on through. At the other side, Pikchu let the three down a hallway, through a door and up some stairs before finally coming to a stop at one last door.

"Alright, the Colonel's in here. Everyone be quiet and respectful." Pikachu said to the duo. They both nodded, and proceeded in, but what Buneary saw wasn't at all what she was expecting.

Instead of seeing a random, sleeping pokemon in the candlelit room, there was only a makeshift casket sitting on a small table in the medium sized room, all by it's lonesome. The room was covered in candles and flowers, setting a tone of peace and undying will. Buneary gasped as a paw flew to her mouth in shock, shaky arms moving involuntarily to accustom to the gravity of the situation. Pikachu walked closer to Buneary and whispered,

"Don't mention anything about his death in front of Pichu. She would be devastated if she were to find out."

Buneary nodded, tears starting to cloud her vision and roll down her face. Pikachu took his paw in Buneary's and led them over to the casket, where Pichu was already standing.

"For some reason, we had Charmander make this strange bed for Colonel a few days ago to sleep on. He hasn't woken up, but he will someday. I'm sure of it. Right, Pikachu?" Pichu said in a low whisper.

"Right." Pikachu answered.

Buneary felt her heart twinge at that little speech, knowing he'll never wake up and the hope for his return will be long forgotten in time by the little kit. She knelt in front of the casket, bowing and paying her respects to a total stranger. Tears stil fell down her face, continuing to cry and mourn, Buneary stayed as long as she could in the same position before her knees started to hurt, and even then, she didn't care. She felt Pikachu's arms wrap themselves around her, him crouching next to her for comfort's sake. She leaned into the hug, crying and choking at the sad misfortune bestowed upon Colonel and her alike that day.

"Aww, miss...why are you crying?" Pichu said as she jumped carelessly off of the table to land in front of Buneary. "There's nothing to cry about, it's just a sleeping body."

Buneary took her forearm to her eyes, wiped away her tears, and sniffled a couple times before standing on wobbly legs. "...Yea...yo-you're right. N-nothing to cry about..." She said, taking one final bow before exiting the room. She heard Pikachu tell young Pichu not to touch or disturb anything, and then the clack of small claws on the concrete floor as he followed her outside. Just as he was about to console her an explain everything, they saw another Pokemon walk out from around a nearby corner.

An elderly Eevee made eye contact with the two youthful Pokemon suddenly, which startled Buneary. She was sure either her or Pikachu were going to get an earful about having unwanted guests in the home, but all fear soon faded as she greeted them with a friendly smile, devoid of all malicious content.

"Good morning, Pikachu. I see you brought a friend, did you?" She said, and turned to Buneary who was still sniffling at the earlier event. She smiled a little to seem friendly, and held her paw out. "Buneary." She answered in a shaky voice. "I'm Pikachu's friend. Uhm...and uh, I'm sorry for your loss, miss...I didn't know until-" suddenly, Eevee interrupted her.

"Oh, really, it's alright. Tomi had it coming, as grim as it is to say. The man lived to be an amazing 94, I think by that time though, he was practically begging for death." She made a loud sigh. "...But I miss Tomi a lot...he was my soul mate."

Buneary nodded, and silenced herself, until something popped in her head. "Do you guys have anything sharp around here?" She said out of the blue. Pikachu looked a little taken aback by the request, so Buneary clarified. "I'm not trying to stab anyone or anything, I just need a cutting utensil." She replied. Although Pikachu seemed no less fazed, he looked around the hallway and spotted a broken window.

"There's a shattered pane of glass over there, maybe you can use that." Pikachu pointed out. Fast forward a few minutes and Buneary was back with a shard, which she proceeded to take down to her waist, around her fluff. Using the glass, she cut a section of her fur off, threw the glass away and started molding it like it was play-do. Fast foreward again, and Buneary had created a bracelet with the name Tomi on it, cut out with the glass from earlier. Pikachu and Eevee watched in amazement as she crafted this, a small scarf and even a small figurine. She gave the bracelet to Eevee, tied it around her wrist and handed the scarf to Pikachu.

"Merry Christmas, and my condolences." She said. Pikachu stared at her with wide eyes, while Eevee just looked at and admired her band, all of which happened in the space of less than 10 minutes.

"My fluff is expandable, you can make almost anything out of it, which comes in handy sometimes. It also grows back in a couple of hours, so don't mind this." Buneary explained, pointing to the dent in her fur. Buneary smiled, then left them to go into the room with Tomi in it. She found there Pichu, lying asleep next to the coffin, which Buneary thought to be adorable and kind of morbid at the same time. She crept up on her and poked her in the side, waiting patiently for her to rise. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, looking around first before directing her attention to Buneary.

"Yes, Miss?" She said as she laid her paws flat on the table. Buneary smiled and pulled out the doll, waving it in her face.

"Merry Christmas."

Pichu's face lit up, and, quick as a flash, she snatched it away from Buneary and hugged the living daylights out of it. She was the most adorable thing you could have ever wished to see in your life.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She yelled just as Pikachu and Eevee wandered in, with confused but amazed expressions. Pichu jumped off the table and into Buneary's arms, which she was not prepared for, so she had just caught her in time. Pichu hugged Buneary with her tiny paws, wrapping around her chest as best she could, with a smile on her face and the doll in her grasp. Buneary was taken aback to say the least, but hugged the post-toddler back. After a moment, they moved away from each other and smiled. Pichu jumped off of the table and ran to her father, jumping up and down and waving the doll around in his face.

"Look! Look at what Buneary got me! It's mine, and she gave it to me!" She yelled as she hopped up and down. "Look, Daddy, look!"

"Yea, that was pretty nice of her, wasn't it?" He replied. "But, I think I got the more awesome gift." He exclaimed, wrapping the small scarf around his neck. "It makes me look fabulous!" He preformed a twirl and struck a pose, which was hilarious to say the least. "But...it's a little early for presents, isn't it? Christmas isn't for another three days."

"Well, It was the least I could do, after all you've done for me..." Buneary looked to the ground and held her arms behind her back. "...it barely suffices..."

Eevee looked at Pikachu incredulously, to which Pikachu replied, "Long story."

Buneary rocked back and forth on her feet a couple times, before feeling a gentle, tiny paw wrap around her own. She saw Pichu emerge from behind her, with a smile on her face.

"We should show Buneary around more, and introduce her to the rest of us!" Pichu exclaimed out of the blue, perking the intrest of Pikachu. "Well...once everyone's come back, of course." He said. Pichu looked a little down, but perked right back up again. "Yea, but we can still show her my room! Come on, Buneary! Comeoncomeoncomeoncomeocieivkdowoaoeoepq!" She yelled excitedly, pulling Buneary along with her down the hallway.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" Buneary laughed as she was being dragged. "See you later, Pikachu! WAHH!" after that, she was pulled into a door in the hallway, disappearing from sight. Pikachu sweat dropped, and rubbed the back of his head. "Y'know...I wish her mother was still around. Then Pichu wouldn't be stuck with just playing by herself. Meowth never plays with her...but now she has Buneary. God...I really loved her, why'd she have to go?" Pikachu said depressingly. Eevee tried cheering him up, but to no avail. Eventually, he left down the stairs and back to the ladder.

"If any of you need me, I'll be in the main room. I'll call for you when the rest of the group comes back with the tree." And, with that, he departed and left her standing in the hallway alone. She sighed, and departed herself to her own room for a nap.

* * *

"Move away! Tree coming through!" A random voice shouted in through the dark caverns of the warehouse, echoing off of the walls. A sudden kick to the front door opened it, and in walked a Charmander holding the top of the tree, appearing to the eyes of Pichu, Buneary and Eevee as they walked down the stairs and into the main room. Pikachu seemed to be directing the "traffic" so to speak, as he was waving his arms frantically left and right for the team of mover's benefet.

"I'll go get the decorations!" Pichu shouted, running back up the stairs and disappearing from view in the blink of an eye.

"I'll prepare warm drinks." Said Eevee, wandering off in a random direction, leaving Buneary alone to watch them.

From what she could see, this was the rest of the group, and there were a lot more than she was expecting. At first she saw just a Charmander, but as the tree fit more and more through the door, it revealed a Pachirisu, a Ralts and a Meowth, who trailed behind the rest of the group. She was looking at her claws and standing around, watching as the rest of them tried to put up the tree. She even laughed as a branch snapped and fell on the Ralts' head. Buneary glared at the selfish Pokemon and hurried over to help them.

The tree was falling over to the left on the stand, and they were trying frantically to push it back up. Buneary, instead of joining the people pushing on the left side, she pulled on a couple branches on the right, balancing it out and eventually settling it in it's stand. A loud sigh of relief was heard amongst the crowd, followed by heavy breathing. Meowth walked over to the panting group, smirking.  
"Having fun?" She asked rhetorically, tweaking the annoying bone in Buneary.

"Why didn't you try to help, instead of sitting there laughing at us!? The tree could've been ruined or worse, for Arceus's sakes someone could've gotten hurt!" Buneary shouted out of the blue, receiving wide-eyed stares from everyone in the room. Buneary's own eyes went wide as he realized what she had just said, and her paws flew to her mouth.

"I-I I'm...I'm sorry, sorry...so sorry..." she stammered, with a look of absolute horror stained on her face. "...I didn't mean it, I shouldn't have said anything and I'm so sorry everyone...I-I...I..." Buneary sighed, depressingly and hung her head down. "...I knew I'd do something stupid..." her eyes started to water, and she slapped a paw to her forehead. She stood there, quietly sobbing for a couple seconds, before feeling a light arm drape around her shoulder. She looked up, surprised and didn't see who she expected. It wasn't Pikachu who had come to her rescue, but rather Ralts.

"Darling, you did nothing wrong." Ralts explained calmly. "You were only expressing what was on your mind, and nobody blames you for it. I was a little agitated myself."

Buneary sighed and wiped her tears away with her forearm. "Yea...but I'm still sorry everyone...I shouldn't have been crabby and mean, and I don't want to come across that way. I hope you can forgive me for my rudeness."

"Forgiveness granted." She heard from Charmander, whom she raised her head to see. He was just a little taller than her, but not enough to make a difference. He also seemed to have an English accent. "I'm certainly not mad, the least bit so." He leaned forward and took Buneary's paw in his and shook it. "I'm Charmander. Nice to meet you, miss." He then turned her hand 'round and gave it a kiss on the back, emanating from Buneary a blush.

"Yea, that's Charmander for you." Ralts said. "I'm Ralts, it's a pleasure." She said, doing the same thing as Charmander, without the kissing.

"Nice to meet you both." Buneary replied happily. "I'm here mostly because Pikachu wanted me to meet all of you guys, and to be honest...it didn't really go the way I expected it to...hah...hah..heh." Buneary chuckled awkwardly.

Ralts laughed. "I'm pretty sure nobody really expected that to happen, miss. You're not the only one." She then took Buneary's arm and carried her along the room, walking over to the Meowth from earlier and the Pachirisu she still had yet to meet.

"This is Pachirisu, Pachirisu, Buneary." Ralts said as she walked over, introducing the two new Pokemon to Buneary.

Finally, she stood in front of Pachirisu. "Hey, Pachirisu. I'm Buneary." She stuck out her paw, which Pachirisu seemed to enthusiastically take.

"Pleasure. Pachirisu." He said, which made Buneary's eyes go wide while she shook his paw.

"Your voice, it's so low! How does that happen? You're just this cute, small little thing...what happened?" Buneary asked in amazement. Pachirisu, to Buneary's relief, chuckled and replied, "I went through my growth spurt in a mental state. My body barely grew, even though puberty started for me when I was 9. My voice is kinda deep, I guess."

Buneary chuckled cutely, before moving over to Meowth, who had a stoic, emotionless expression.

"Uh...hey. I'm Buneary. I'm, uh...really sorry for earlier. I just lost the temper that's been brewing in me for the past few days, I guess, and I just released it at you unintentionally." Buneary sighed heavily. "I didn't mean to direct my anger at you."

Meowth rolled her eyes, and glanced down at her claws, shining them again while carrying the same stoic expression. "...Whatever..." she mumbled.

Buneary raised an eyebrow, before walking away with Ralts again.

"...what's her problem?" Buneary whispered to Ralts.

"She's just a brat. I'd avoid her right now, if you wanna still hang with us. She's kinda been going through a teenage rebellion stage...for three years." She finished, sighing and continuing with their walk. Eventually, they reached Pikachu across the room.

"Get her enough acquainted, Ralts?" Pikachu inquired. Ralts beamed and said, "Yep!" Cheerfully. Suddenly, Pichu came crashing down the stairs with boxes of baubles, fairy lights, tinsel, and other trinkets for decorating the tree. There was a loud crash as she hit the floor, along with the boxes of fragile material. Everybody stood in the room, staring at the mess of cardboard and decoration's that littered the floor. Pichu popped out of the rubble, shook her head and said, "Oh...uh, my bad...heh..."

Pikachu rolled his eyes and walked over to the mess, followed by everyone else, and picked her up under her arms and carried her. "C'mon, let's pick this stuff up and get stared, eh guys?" Pichu snuggled closer to Pikachu in his grasp, while everyone else nodded and agreed.

The rest of the night was filled with festivity and cheer - good times, and fun times at that. Buneary felt truly at home, no one to judge her, no one to blame her for doing wrong, just plain equality amongst the group. And, even though Meowth was being a brat still, Buneary eventually erased all anger and misguided judgement towards her that night. Meowth even seemed to not think Buneary was a total bitch; maybe just a little bitch. After the tree decoration, with Pichu being the one to place the star on top of it, the gang spent the rest of the night playing games, eating hearty meals, (mostly consisting of cheese, bread and lettuce a kind man at the grochery shop gave them a while back), dancing, and just doing whatever.

Inevitably, the activity died down some, Meowth and Pichu were put to bed, and the adults sat in a circle in the main room in front of the tree, save for Eevee who wondered off to bed early. They drank juice boxes and reminisced about old times together, basking in the semi-dark chamber of the warehouse.

"And then, guess what she said when she saw the mess?" Charmander blurted out between chuckles.

Pikachu laughed at the sight of the barely-able-to-contain-himself Pokemon who seemed to be having an anurism. "What'd she say?" He replied.

Charmander stiffed a laugh. "She..she said, 'Dimitrius! This egg is soiled! I will not tolerate soiled egg on my roof!" He, and everyone else burst into laughter, being attacked mercilessly by tickles of humor.

"Oh my Arceus, that actually happened?!" Buneary managed to squeeze out between gasps of breath and squeaks of laughter.

Charmander chuckled, raising a finger to his eye to wipe away a tear. "Yeah...yeah, she wasn't too happy about it either. That's...that's how I got my thigh scar. Stupid move on my part." He replied.

Buneary chuckled a few times more, and clutched her stomach. "Oh, Arceus...I've grown abs!" Pikachu stiffed a laugh, as he watched her clutch her stomach and roll around helplessly. It took the group a couple of minutes to settle down, and once they did, the room went silent once more.

"Oh man, nothing's going to top that story..." Pachirisu said, to break up the silence. They all murmured in agreement.

"Speaking of scars...Buneary, I've been meaning to ask you," Ralts said from beside her, "If you don't mind, could you explain the story behind that nasty cut on your arm?"

Buneary froze, immediately turning her arm over to expose the backside. "Uhm...w-w-well, I-I uh...I'd rather not talk about it, I don't wanna bore you guys with my past..." Charmander then chimed in.

"Bore us? Surely, you're life's held some excitement, right?" He inquired.

"Well, actually...my life's been nothing but pointless twists and turns down roads of fate in which I've never had the option to choose. Spread out, unfathomable, infinite branches of continued, repeated lies, circling back towards me more than once, striking at my heart like a sailor's harpoon to a Wailmer's body. Most I have met seemed to always feel the need to deviate me; toy with me, break me like a cup of glass thrown to a hard, stone floor below. And yet, I have become willing to accept these continuities - all my life I've been played like a violin. I've have had many a person draw the bow across my fragile strings, tightening them and tuning them to get the quality sound THEY wanted to hear, never the sound I wanted to hear of myself. Untill, the strings inevitably pop and snap like coals to a newly built charcoal flame, stretching them to their limit. And, once that happens, I'm objected and depicted to them and evident others as a worn out, used tool once created to make something beautiful," Buneary told, sighing. She looked down, hanging her head low and bringing her knees to her chin. "I'm not some exciting, new play toy. I'm a used, vintage broken piece of scrap metal that can't become reclaimed again...nobody wants an old toy..."

The room fell completely silent, with Buneary being the main center piece of attention. She raised her head, to see the conscious eyes of everyone still boring into her skull.

"Did...did I say something wrong?" She asked, sort of frightened.

"Wow..." Ralts said, sighing a casual sigh. "You could be a poet with a mind like that." Sudenly, she curled up beside her and wrapped her arms around Buneary's small frame. "Buneary...I never knew...if I had known, I wouldn't have asked, and I'm sorry." She said, squeezing her a little tighter in her grasp.

"Well, I mean, it wasn't your fault. I'd blame Samuel, most of all, but...that's a story for another time." Buneary replied, hugging the slender body of Ralts back.

Pikachu suddenly sniffed, grabbing the attention of everybody in the room. To everyone's surprise, he was crying.

"Oh, Pikachu...what's wrong?" Charmander spoke.

Pikachu rubbed his temple, and sat back on one of his paws. "It's just...I-I know what she went through, and I just feel s-s-so bad...for not being able to b-be there while that...Samuel guy was picking on you..." he said, directing his sentence accidentally towards Buneary rather than answering Charmander's question. "What I did do, however feels barely sufficient..." he said, wiping his face with his paws.

Buneary scoffed, and politely slipped out of Ralts' grasp. "Are you kidding me?" She asked, walking over to him. "If you hadn't done what you did, Pikachu, I wouldn't be in this room right now." Buneary sat down beside Pikachu, shifting closer and resting a paw on his knee which got his attention.

"You've done a lot for me. You saved my life, brought me here, let me meet these wonderful Pokemon," she said, motioning her arm in a circle representing the group. "Put a roof over my head, put me in a bed, and, most important of all, you've been one of the best to influence my life." She leaned closer, resting her head against his and wrapping her arms around his torso. "Thank you so much, Pikachu."  
He seemed to calm down a little after this, and returned Buneary's hug, quietly sobbing.

After this, the group just seemed to disband quietly, everyone departing to their own quarters to leave Buneary and Pikachu to their own in the room. Pikachu eventually woke up, not realizing he'd fell asleep, and opened his eyes to find the room dark, and him and Buneary on the floor...cuddling. He looked down and couldn't help but fawn over how cute she looked when she was sleeping. Her cheek was pressed up against Pikachu's, and her arms were wrapped around his torso and their bodies pressed together. Her breath was light on his face and it tickled his nose.

"Buneary," Pikachu spoke in a scratchy voice. "Buneary, wake up. We gotta go back to the sewers."

A low groan from her indicated she had awoken, but once she opened her eyes, she found herself face to face with Pikachu...literally.

"Oh, uhm...hey, Pikachu." She said, her face turning a shade of bright red. "Heh, uhm...I guess we kinda...uhm...fell asleep."

Pikachu chuckled. "Yea, I guess we did". Without further word, the two pulled away from each other, both particularly embarrassed at what had just transcribed. Buneary yawned loudly, while Pikachu got up and stretched. After, he helped Buneary up, let her stretch, before walking to the far side of the room, away from the crudely decorated tree. Buneary followed behind at a slow pace, trying to shake the sleep from her eyes. Pikachu did the same thing as earlier, using Iron Tail to open the door, then held it open for Buneary to walk outside. After a quick "thanks", they both wandered outside, to the road once more.

"Well...here goes nothing." Buneary said, ready to take off across the street as to avoid one of the cars that might travel this late at night. Suddenly, she felt a paw on her shoulder. She stopped and turned to face Pikachu.

"Buneary..." Pikachu began, "Would you mind if I were to...uhm, just show you something? Real quick?"

Buneary shrugged her shoulders. "I guess not."

Pikachu beamed. "Okay! Follow me!" He said, before proudly marching off into the direction of the stairwell that lead to the back of the warehouse again, the same one they had taken earlier, instead he marched past the ladder and traversed into the brush of the forest. Buneary slapped a paw to her forehead and laughed at how ridiculous Pikachu's walk was.

Together they walked through the thick brush, connecting paws as to not get separated in their embarking journey.

Eventually, after a fair bit of walking, Pikachu stopped suddenly, which resulted in Buneary crashing into him.

"Pikachu, don't tell me we're lost..." Buneary scolded, growing impatient. Pikachu turned about with a large grin on his face.

"Okay, are you ready?" He asked.

"Uhm...I guess so..." She replied.

"Okay, close your eyes now..." Pikachu said as he reached for her eyes. She didn't have a chance to respond before he gave her no choice. He guided her through a little more brush, to a more open space, and guided her to sit down."Okay, open your eyes now." Pikachu said, still holding her paw as they sat together.

Buneary quickly opened her eyes, so fast that she had to blink some before being able to focus on what was in front of her.

And what was in front of her took her breath away.

There, the two were sitting on a cliff, looking over a giant, radiant pool of crystal clear lake water. The full moon reflected light off of the surface so radiantly, that the moisture in the air sparkled, reflecting crystallized air particles from the lake, giving it a sparkling quality to it. As the natural light bulb shined down on them in the sky, the moon possessed a alluring, soulful blue tinge to it that set the scene of a romantic environment. The quiet, slow whistle of the wind carried them both into a state of peace, drawing them from their natural bodies and leading them to fly away into the air. Buneary closed her eyes slowly and let the serenity of their environment carry her away.

"...This is a place I like to go when I feel...kinda crappy, to be honest." Pikachu spoke, breaking the ancient, ear pounding silence. "Although...I've never quite seen it look this beautiful."

Buneary could only nod in response. Every sense of hers was overwhelmed with serenity and peace; the entire environment looked so fragile, to be disrupted by the slightest of noise would break the void-full silence right in half.

"P-Pikachu...I-I..." Buneary started shakily. "I don't kn-know what to...what to say..." this was when she realized that their hands were still linked together, but took no effort in trying to remove it from his grasp. Instead, she silently and unnoticeably scooted closer to Pikachu.

"Thank you..." Buneary managed to speak in a small whisper.

"Don't mention it." Pikachu responded. Pikachu found himself subconsciously scooting towards Buneary as well, and as he caught himself, he was too late. They were now so close that he could feel Buneary's thigh through her thick fur. He decided to do something risky, and let go of her paw, only to extend an arm around her shoulder. She seemed to mind very little, as she wrapped her arm around his lower back. And, finally, her head came to rest on his shoulder, completing their position.

"You know..." Pikachu started, "I've waited for so long...to show someone this cliff. A special someone...not ever just a casual friend. It needed to be someone who I could trust with all my heart." Pikachu glanced down at Buneary who looked back up at him.

"And I think I found the one. Welcome to my heart, Buneary. Please, take good care of it."

Buneary stared back up at him, transfixing on his eyes. The most crystal blue type of eyes you could find, the clearest of all malicious intent. Not a speck, not a spot of imperfection was to be found anywhere within the barriers of his mind, and Buneary soon realized this as she continued to stare. She tried to give a verbal response, but his eyes seemed to have trapped her in his gaze.

Pikachu was feeling all too the same. Buneary's own hazel-green eyes opened a portal to an endless array of spontaneity, joy and kindness. You could have probably baptized someone with just her eyes, the way they reflected the light off of her pupils. The green grew near the center, leaving blue to roam freely in the outer ring of her cornea - and every time she moved even the slightest, the green seemed to speak volumes to him through a peaceful humming, thumping quietly while the blue contrasted it, it's personality and bravery flashing brightly.

Pikachu reached up and brushed a hand on Buneary's face, gently caressing her cheek, trying so hard not to break the perpetual wall of silence by screaming to the sky a song of his happiness. Buneary closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, reaching up with her own hand to grab his and place it on her face. She brought at first one, then two of her hands and slung them around Pikachu's neck, while he took his hands, only with permission, to her hips. He brought his head down upon Buneary, who replied by bringing her head up to match her counterpart. They closed their eyes slowly, as their lips gently brushed each other, barely making contact, savoring the sweet time they held there like the world was on it's last leg. Both of their hearts were racing, pumping, beating in their chests, never slowing for a moment to allow one second of relief time. The breath of each other brushing up against their faces and noses, rolling across their skin was just too much to bear, and so both subconsciously decided it was time, and locked lips.

It was nothing like either of them had experienced before. This was, by no standards a first kiss for Pikachu, but for Buneary, it was sadly, all too true. Although this might have been fact, both of them had experienced that night what few could say they did; the magic of love. Love was seeping through their arms, their legs, their mouths and brains, their every appendage was spilling excitement never experienced by either Pikachu or Buneary before. They moved their lips perfectly in sync with each other, feeling the adrenaline course through their veins, driving them to go all the way. They planned that moment for their romance to take them far into oblivion, no regard for their safety or the safety of others. No; this was their time, and no deity on heaven or earth would be able to separate them.

Except maybe the deity of oxygen.

They had to physically rip away from each other just to stop from killing themselves, and they both panted for breath. Their faces were red, from adrenaline or lack of oxygen nobody could tell. Buneary suddenly took her hands down from his neck and threw them around his torso for cuddles. In reply, Pikachu wrapped his around her head and kissed the top of her forehead, gently stroking between her ears.

After a while in this position, Pikachu decided it was time for them to head home, and so he stood and took Buneary first in his arms, then on his back as he traversed through the rest of the brush, the road and eventually the sewers, listening to the silent snoring and warm breath lay on his back and reassuring himself that what he had just experienced was in fact, not a dream.

Eventually, he came to the door, opened it, crawled into the hole behind the boiler, and lay to rest Buneary on it. He covered her up with blankets, and crawled inside with her. He came from behind, wrapping his arms 'round her waist, as they fit together like spoons.

Pikachu closed his eyes and dreamed vivid dreams of happiness, and pondered what was to come in the future.

* * *

I just love writing that mushy, fluffy stuff x3

So, yeah. Hope you guys enjoyed that, and I'm sorry this wasn't released on Christmas day, or something. I've been busy with holiday stuff, and haven't gotten time to write :I Hopefully the extra long chapter makes up for it, though xD

If it's any good, I kinda listened to this song over and over again while writing the lovey-dovey stuff here at the end xD - watch?v=s9n4zsHtcBw

It's a good song.

Thanks for reading :D

~LagomorphKing


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